The Roles of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in

Supporting Education through Improving Parental

Involvement

By

Bopha Ong

May 2009

 Table of Contents
Pages
Background and Purposes………………………………………………………….4
Introduction……………………………………………………………………….....5
Literature Review……………………………………………………………………6
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)..………………………………....6
Defining NGOs……………………………………………………………….6
Types of NGOs……………………………………………………………….8
Work and Constraints of NGOs………………………………………………8
Strengths and Weaknesses of NGOs…………………………………………10
Parental Involvement/ School, Family and Community Collaboration……....11
Type 1: Parenting Skills………………………………………………13
Type 2: School-Home Communication…………………………….....17
Type 3: Volunteerism…………………………………………………21
Type 4: At-Home Learning and Coaching……………………………22
Type 5: Decision Making and Governance…………………………...25
Type 6: Collaborating with the Community………………………….27
Variables Influenced Parental Involvement Styles…………………………...31
Gender………………………………………………………………..31
Racial ethnic, class and cultural variations…………………………...32
Specific domain of skills and knowledge…………………………….33
The Impact of Employment and other Family Demands--…...………34
Specific invitations and demands from the child and the school……..35
Methodology…………………………………………………………………………35
Procedure and Data Source……………………………………………………36
Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………36
Descriptions of the Case Study………………………………………………..37
Findings……………………………………………………………………………….40

Roles EPIC Plays in Improving Parental Involvement………………………..40

Type 1: Parenting Skills……………………………….........................40
Type 2: School-Home Communication……………………………......45

 Type 3: Volunteerism………………………………………………….47
Type 4: At-Home Learning and Coaching…………………………….48
Type 5: Decision Making and Governance……………………………50
Type 6: Collaborating with the Community…………………………..51

Discussion and Recommendation for EPIC…………………………………..53

Type 1: Parenting Skills……………………………………………….53
Type 2: School-Home Communication……………………………......54
Type 3: Volunteerism………………………………………………….55
Type 4: At-Home Learning and Coaching…………………………….56
Type 5: Decision Making and Governance……………………………57
Type 6: Collaborating with the Community…………………………..58
Other Considerations………………………………………………………….60

Conclusion and Recommendations………………………………………………….63

NGOs and Education………………………………………………………….64

Role of EPIC in Supporting Education………………………………………..65

Roles of EPIC in Improving Parental Involvement……………………………66

Recommendation for Further Research………………………………………..68
Illustrations……………………………………………………………………………70
Table 1: Summary of EPIC Programs and Services--……………………….....70
Table 2: Further Questions about EPIC………………………………………..71
References…………………………………………………………………………….72

 Background and Purposes

There exists a significant body of literature addressing the work of Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in public health, in relation to civil society and the

state government, and in resolving social and environmental issues in other developing

countries. However, regarding the field of education, we know little about the role of

NGOs as intermediary organizations in supporting education, particularly in regards to

parent involvement in education. The main purpose of parent-involvement programs is to

have parents actively engaged in the education of their children (Saldana, 1997). Today,

schools are looking for means to increase student academic attainment due to the call for

schools to improve student success from parents and legislators and the increased

emphasis on standardized testing (Ramirez, 2004). We have known for many years that

escalating parent involvement increases student success (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Therefore, there should have been a call from many people to develop programs to

improve parent/family participation in the lives of their children (Ramirez, 2004). Yet,

there is a gap in literature surrounding the roles that external agencies outside the

educational system might play in improving parental involvement in education. This

article considers a key question in relation to this gap in the literature: what are roles of

NGOs in assisting with parental involvement? Furthermore, this article will also address

questions about what local non-governmental organizations do to enhance parental

involvement in schools based on the six types of parent involvement of Joyce Epstein

(2001) and other variables that affect parental involvement styles.

Key words: Non-Governmental Organization, six types of parental involvement

 Introduction

In the past 20 years, parent involvement research, policy and practice have been

dominated by Epstein’s (1990, 1995) model of family-school partnerships. This is based

on the theory of overlapping spheres of home, school, family and community influences

that shape children’s learning and development and six types of parent involvement that

schools should develop, namely: basic obligations of parenting, home-school

communication, volunteering at school, learning at home, school decision making and

community-school connection (Auerbach, 2007). And, non-governmental organizations

(NGOs) are committed to addressing social needs and improving the human condition,

and thus often use education and support schools in order to build stronger communities

(Seffrin, 2002). Non-Governmental organizations have the ability to work closely with

local communities and to develop innovative programs that address local needs and

contexts (Klees, 2002). Therefore, local NGOs can play an important role as partners

with local school districts in supporting schools to provide additional family support and

materials to enhance parent involvement and family community school partnership since

local education-based NGOs have resources and networks among parents, teachers,

students, administrators and other stakeholders. This paper will review the definitions of

NGOs, what work they do, the literature surrounding the six types of parental

involvement and other factors that affect the involvement; and examine one local

education-based NGO—Every Person Influences Children (EPIC) that partners with the

Buffalo Public schools and explore how this NGO is involved in family involvement in

education.

 Literature Review

In this section, I will discuss the literature surrounding non-governmental

organizations, definition of NGOs, types of NGOs, their work and constraints, and their

strengths and weaknesses.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

In recent years NGOs have become increasingly visible and active in various

sectors of social life, including education (Ginsburg, 2002). Effectively, NGOs have

been in operation since the 1800s, but came into common usage with the development of

the United Nations (UN) in 1945 (O'Sullivan, 2008). The terms used to identify these

organizations have multiplied and evolved to include voluntary associations, non-profit

associations, international nongovernmental organizations, nongovernmental

development organizations, new social movement organizations, people’s organizations,

membership organizations, grassroots support organizations, and membership support

organizations (Fernando & Heston, 1997).

Defining NGOs

Most researchers agree that there are difficulties associated with the definitions of

“NGOs” and then go on to define them in the way that is most useful in the context they

are discussing (Fernando & Heston, 1997). There are many definitions of NGOs. The

Yearbook of International Organizations defines NGOs as organizations which have not

been founded and are not formally controlled by a national government (Union of

International Associations, 2005). In addition to the definition given by the Yearbook of

International Organizations, Reinalda and Verbeek (2001) identify another characteristic

of these organizations, which is the pursuit by private means and private objectives that

are likely to have domestic or transnational public effects. The World Bank defines

NGOs as private organizations [i.e. independent from government] that pursue activities

to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide

basic social services, or undertake community development (Categorizing NGOs, 2006).

According to Clake (1998), nongovernmental organizations are non-profit, private,

professional organizations with a distinctive legal character, concerned with public

welfare goals.

The term NGO is somewhat misleading, since it suggests a broader scope in the

present day—that is, everything outside the governmental sector—than is usually

intended. In general, the term refers only to nonprofits and does not include any

organizations in the corporate sector (Munchen, 2006). Also, institutions within the

nonprofit or independent sector are also often referred to as nongovernmental

organizations (Seffrin, 2002). Present-day NGOs are often legal corporations with full-

time staffs and governing boards. In the United States NGOs are categorized by the

Internal Revenue Service with specific tax designations as 501 (c)(3)s, (c)(4)s, and (c)(6)s

(Seffrin, 2002). In fact, many NGOs, according to Seffrin (2002), choose to refer

themselves as not-for-profits, indicating that although they are not in the business of

making a profit like for-profit corporations, instead raise more funds from other sources

such as governments and other organizations for their work and other ongoing projects.

Seffring (2002) also argues that although NGOs are commonly defined in opposition to

government and for-profit organizations, they frequently display characteristics of both.

Many NGOs receive support from the government and for-profit corporations.

Types of NGOs

O’Neill (1989) categorized NGOs into nine types; religious, private education and

research, healthcare, arts and culture, social sciences, advocacy and legal services,

international assistance, foundations, corporate funders and mutual benefit organizations.

Other types of NGOs are also variously called voluntary organizations, development

agencies, civil society organizations, membership organizations, mutual aid societies,

advocacy organizations, and grassroots organizations (Seffrin, 2002). However, Ginsburg

(2002) divides NGOs into four major types: (1) grassroots operations linked to social

movements targeted at challenging and transforming unequal social structures; (2)

nonprofit businesses run by professionals that give work and income opportunities for the

disadvantaged in an effort to incorporate them in extant political economic settings; (3)

locally-based organizations that operate on a shoe-string budget obtained from resources

of those involved; and (4) international entities with sizable budgets supported by grants

and contracts from international organizations, national governments as well as foreign

governments with particular projects being undertaken.

Work and Constraints of NGOs

The increasing roles/work of NGOs are due to the perception that the public

sector is unresponsive and inefficient (Ginsburg, 2002). NGOs often work at a grass-roots

level to provide aid, education, and information: both to the audience they are trying to

reach, and to a wider audience of policy-makers, state organizations and funding agencies

(Munchen, 2006). NGOs’ work and responsibilities have arisen as a response to the need

of social groups to secure social, economic and political equality; a sustainable

8

environment; peaceful ethnic; religious or national relations; and as a resistance against

all kinds of exploitation and domination (Ginsburg, 2002). Beside these responsibilities,

in helping the national government, NGOs are committed to addressing social needs and

improving the human condition, especially helping resolve health issues (Seffrin, 2002).

Other NGOs’ work focuses on educational and occupational issues by indirectly

empowering individuals with new skills and competencies, thereby improving their

overall standard of living (Seffrin, 2002).

The positive impact of NGOs’ advocacy role on the issues they address depends

in part on the extent to which they mobilize the support of and act in collaboration with

the state, rather than acting in opposition to it (Fernando & Heston, 1997). Seffrin (2002)

also stresses that NGOs often work in collaboration with the government and for-profit

corporations, and each brings their particular competencies to bear on a common issue.

Paul (1990) drew examples from different parts of the world to show that the work of

NGOs lies in their role as brokers or catalysts in linking families and communities to the

wider society and the government; and this broker function is likely to become more

important in the future, especially it is hoped that this function will contribute to an

understanding of the ever evolving role of NGOs (Fernando & Heston, 1997).

The missions and practices of NGOs are considered to be different from those of

the public and private sectors; however, NGOs which are partly funded by the national

government still function within the boundaries set by the state and are subject to various

laws and regulations within that nation (Fernando & Heston, 1997). Apart from receiving

grants from the national government, some NGOs receive funding from foreign sources

such as other governments, UN agencies, corporate and other private foundations. This

dependence on the funding from such bodies can lead to a question of whether NGOs’

work represents the strengthening of civil society or only the intention to shape civil

society in ways that external entities believe are desirable (Ginsburg, 2002).

Strengths and Weaknesses of NGOs

NGOs continue to play a critical role in U.S. society. Although in the future some

NGOs are likely to disband due to political or economic issues, others will evolve to

address unresolved issues and emerging threats like improving the health, education and

wellbeing of the public because of their strengths in some areas that the government and

other private entities do not possess (Seffrin, 2002). These strengths include: support to

marginalized communities, outreach capacity, the efficient provision of services,

administrative efficiency, capacity building of the poor, and the development of civil

society. In addition, NGOs are community focused and help with the areas that the

government do not do (O'Sullivan, 2008). They have strong grassroots links and the

ability to innovate, adapt, and receive trust of locals; and they also often have field based

experts who may specialize in a particular field such as education (O'Sullivan, 2008).

Some other strong features of many NGOs are a process-oriented approach to

development, participatory methodologies and tools, long-term commitment toward

goals, emphasis on sustainability, advocacy on behalf of the poor, and accountability to a

client base (O'Sullivan, 2008). Local-based NGOs, focusing on a specific mission to help

their communities, receive the passionate support of local communities and loyal

volunteers, which make them able to address issues that organizations in other sectors
10

cannot, or will not, do. Therefore, unlike organizations in the public sector, which are

often subject to constant political pressure and regulation, or those in the corporate sector,

which are beholden to their owners and shareholders, NGOs are accountable primarily to

the public's trust (Seffrin, 2002). And, NGOs that closely collaborate with both public

and private entities, especially those within the corporate sector, have often increased

their professionalism and improved their efficiency because they receive more support

(Seffrin, 2002).

However, NGOs have some weaknesses in the areas in which they are working,

such as limited financial support and management expertise, limited instructional

capacity, low-levels of self-sustainability, isolation, and lack of inter-organizational

communication and coordination (Seffrin, 2002). Some local-based NGOs are small

organizations with only a handful of staff and volunteers (Seffrin, 2002); therefore they

receive small scale intervention from the government mostly in the form of financial

assistance and other agencies and lack understanding of the broader social or economic

context (O'Sullivan, 2008).

To study the connection between NGOs and schools in regards to the

improvement of parent involvement, the second part of the literature reviewed in this

study is the literature surrounding the Epstein’s six types of parental involvement.

Parental Involvement/ School, Family and Community Collaboration

School-home partnership activities take a variety of forms to match the particular

needs, goals, and interests of students, families and schools to use resources that the

11

community or the organizations in the community have (Hiatt-Michael, 2001). Because

there are so many possibilities of partnership practices, it will not be possible to list them

all, instead the focus is on a framework of six types of involvement, which organizes

partnership practices and effective parental involvement (Hiatt-Michael). This framework

is helpful not only for discussing and studying partnerships and parent involvement

styles, but also for guiding educators, parents and others to develop comprehensive

partnership programs (Hiatt-Michael, 2001).

The strategies proposed in this study of parental involvement/school, family and

community collaboration are based on a renowned model of parent and family

involvement developed by Joyce Epstein. This model is nonhierarchical—none of the six

types of methods to promote involvement has higher priority than any other and each of

the six types has specific characteristics (Dietz & Whaley, 1997). According to Epstein

(1995), there are six basic types of parent and family involvement: type 1: related to the

basic obligation of parents and the ways in which schools can help them to develop

parenting skills; type 2: involves the basic obligations of schools and districts to develop

both one-way and two-way communications with families and the community; type 3:

focuses on developing quality school volunteer practices; type 4: stresses ways for

schools to show parents and families how to help children with schoolwork; type 5:

examines the emerging role of parents in the decision making of school leaders; and type

6: emphasizes the importance of developing strong, effective links between schools and

the community. The early studies and reviews suggest that these major types of

involvement are part of schools’ comprehensive programs to share responsibilities with

12

families for the education of children (Epstein, 1987). Each type is discussed in detail as

following:

Type 1: Parenting Skills

The fundamental obligations of families include providing for children’s health

and safety, developing parenting skills and child-raising approaches that prepare children

for schools and that keep their health development across the grades, and building

positive home conditions that support school learning and behavior in the entire school

years (Epstein, 2001). Schools help parents to develop the knowledge and skills needed

to understand and to raise their children at each grade levels through “workshops” at the

school or in other places, home visitors, family support programs, and in other means of

education, training, and information giving (Epstein, 2001). “Workshop” here is

redefined to mean “not only a meeting on a topic held at the school building but also the

content of that topic, which may be viewed, heard, or read at convenient times and varied

locations in the community” (Epstein, 2001, p.430).

Dietz and Whaley (1997) state, “to promote type 1 involvement, school leaders

should help all families to establish home environments that support children as students”

(p. 25). To improve this type of involvement is to help families to have their basic

needs/obligations: to offer as safe, nurturing home environment for children; to support

their children’s educational endeavors; and to establish appropriate expectations of

behavior (Dietz & Whaley, 1997). Some parents cannot fulfill this expectation since

some lack resources such as time and money, other lack knowledge about parenting

skills. They may be unsure of how to provide basic nutrition, and education (Dietz &
13

Whaley, 1997). Schools and other related-agents can take part in counteracting these

problems and helping parents become more effective advocates, disciplinarians, and

when appropriate, providers and helpers in children’s education. As a result, students can

become high achievers because they are prepared to learn and receive consistent supports

at both home and school (Dietz & Whaley, 1997).

Dietz and Whaley (1997) analyzed some factors (lack of time, lack of parenting

resources, and lack of basic needs) that contribute to the parents’ need for the assistance

with parenting skills.

Lack of time: parents do not have enough time to make further improvement to

parenting skills. Most of them, especially single parents, work long hours to support their

families. This obligation gives them little time to spend with their children and

undermines their enthusiasm for attending school events/work and parent workshops.

They also suggest that parent sessions should also be organized at community center or

any convenient and comfortable place in the neighborhood so that parents do not need to

forfeit their personal time to participate in schools.

Lack of parenting resources: few parents are offered formal training on how to

raise their children. Some consult books or magazines for lessons, but for most parents,

effective parenting skills are learned by trials and errors. Dietz and Whaley (1997) also

argue that educators have experience, have been trained and understand how to deal with

difficult behavioral problems, so they should be in the excellent position to share

expertise with parents. This can be done through offering a variety of parenting

publications, books, magazines and videotapes about both general and specific parenting
14

techniques. Schools should offer parent resource centers that make the materials available

for parents to take home to read at their convenient time. But schools are not the only

place that this service can or should be made available. Also, many schools try to offer

some training, seminars or micro courses on parenting skills as well as courses created to

improve parents’ personal knowledge or job skills.

Lack of basic needs: some families are still struggling with basic needs such as

food, shelter, and medical services which occupy so much time that parenting becomes a

secondary priority. Therefore, offering help to those families who cope with these

situations can put students in a better position to learn, and it also enables families to give

more attention to education and parenting.

Dietz and Whaley (1997) argue that many factors contribute to parents’ inability

to fully support their children as students, but schools can take steps to help them through

improving parent involvement activities, hosting workshops by collecting and providing

resources and by meeting families half way – not only by giving parents the information

that they ask for, but by taking it to them, rather than expecting them to come to the

school. To obtain parenting skills, to improve child rearing, families want clear,

understandable, ongoing information about child and adolescent development. Many

families have good benefits by contacting with other families about parenting skills,

problems and solutions at each age level of their children (Epstein, 2001). Other families

even suggest for professional, personal services to assist them and their children (Epstein,

2001). Families really want and need up-to date information, conversations, and guidance

to improve and adapt home activities and family discussion about child development

15

(Epstein, 2001). With this information, most parents can better understand their children

and the expectations of their children’s education (Epstein, 1995).

Therefore, parents seek respect, support and appreciations from educators, but not

many schools provide them with these needs, they can also be provided from other

sources (Epstein, 1995). Most schools do not collect information from families about

their children on a regular basis. And most of them do not offer precise information to

help all families remain knowledgeable partners in their children’s education (Epstein,

1995). As a result many families end up feeling unassisted and unappreciated by schools

(Epstein, 2001). Epstein (2001) found out two main challenges that schools are facing in

Type 1 involvement model: (a) providing information to all families who want it and who

need it, not only to the few who attend workshops/meetings at the school building; and

(b) enabling families to share information with schools about background, culture,

talents, goals, and needs.

First Challenge: Many parents are not able to attend workshops on parenting,

child and adolescent development, or other topics that are offered by schools to help their

children. There is only a small number of families attending workshops, parent-to-parent

meetings and social activities that served at schools with educators. The challenge is how

schools can help/provide information to other parents who do not come to the school

building at a particular time. There are several reasons behind that issue. The absentees

may not be uninvolved and uncaring parents, but they may be occupied by other

businesses such as taking care of other children, working outside the home, living far

from school, inconvenient timing of the workshops, or feeling unwelcome or frightened

16

by the school. Also, the absentees can be parents who are teachers, administrators, or

child care providers who are working with other people’s children during the school day,

and cannot leave their work to participate in the meetings at their own children’ s schools.

Second Challenge: To promote parenting skills and to increase families’

understanding of their children at each age and grade level, schools face another

challenge to increase educators’ understanding of the students and families, including

their backgrounds, goals, strengths, and needs. This awareness and this understanding are

important because when educators know and become sensitive to the strengths of the

families, educators are better able to support all students and are able to involve all

families.

Type 2: School-Home Communication

The fundamental tasks of schools include communications with families about

school programs and children’s progress. And the strategies in this type include sending

memos, notices, phone calls, report cards, and conferences that most schools conduct and

other means of communication with parents that some schools create (Epstein, 2001). In

this concept, “communications with families about school programs and children’s

progress” is redefined to mean “not only the communication from school to home, but

also from home to schools and with the community” (Epstein, 2001, p.437). The type 2

of Epstein is also supported by the study of parents’ roles in education by Henderson et

al. (1986). Henderson et al. (1986) suggest that parents can have roles as collaborators

and problem solvers. The major aspect of the parent’s role as effective collaborator is its

potential to communicate with teachers and administrators, and to help school personnel
17

resolve problems that may arise with a child’s learning or behavior (Henderson et al.,

1986). This type of involvement aims to create two-way communication channels from

school-to-home and from home-to-school so that families can easily communicate with

teachers, administrators, counselors, and other families (Epstein, 2001).

“To promote type 2 involvement school leaders should design effective forms of

schools-to-home and home-to-school communication with all families each year about

school programs and their children’s progress” (Dietz & Whaley, 1997, p.39). Dietz and

Whaley suggest several strategies that administrators can use to improve relations with

the community, and address school-to-community communication and home-to-school

communication such as crafting school newsletters; preparing for parents-teachers

conferences; increasing communication through technology; improving media relations;

inviting parent-community communication; and implementing an open-door policy. Each

strategy will be discussed as following.

Crafting school newsletters: the best newsletters should strike the balance

between the information that parents need and what parents want. They should include

some key considerations: know the audience; publish in more than one language; include

only essential information; balance attention to people and policy, use an easy-to-read

format; plan ahead carefully; proof read; include the school logo; providing urgent

information through news releases; establishing individual contact; and supplying

information through effective handbooks.

Preparing for parent-teacher conferences: most schools require parents to

attend conferences at least once a year, but the conference method is still not effective.
18

The causes are the lack of preparation and the communication gap between parent and

staff. To help both teachers and parents prepare for conferences, teachers should be

prepared in four areas: building rapport with parents; obtaining information from parents;

providing parents with information of the conference; summarizing and doing some

following-up activities with parents.

Increasing communication through technology: developing the computer

resources, including access to Internet and World Wide Web and modernized telephone

systems can expand the communication of schools with both internal and external

audiences. Emailing is another way of communication. Emails are effective with small,

well-defined audiences, such as staff members, board members, parent-teacher

organizations and individual clubs. But for the larger audiences, such as parents of the

community at large, it works best to use a home page on the internet.

Improving media relations: a good way to begin building, or refining a

cooperative relationship is to keep the media updated on school activities through news

releases. For good results, these documents should have these qualities: succinctness,

newsworthy content, adequate contact information, and the effective and appropriate

medium of delivery.

Parent-community communication: schools have responsibilities to create and

maintain two-way communication. Parents and community members seldom initiate the

communication if they are not invited to do so. There are some methods to improve

home-to-school communication such as open forum; telephone communication;

19

published information; community presence (school official attend community events);

and business reply cards for parents.

Open-Door policy debate: it is a standard way of promoting communication.

School administrators should give people an opportunity to express their feelings. Open-

door policy can lead administrators into a daily routine of doing little more than listening

to people and finding ways/taking part in solving the problems.

Most schools try to communicate with parents through many ways but not all

means of communication are effective (Epstein, 2001). There are some challenges in this

involvement model such as to make all memos, notices, and other print and non-print

communication clear and understandable for all families; and to obtain ideas from

families to improve the design and content of communication such as newsletters, report

cards, and conference schedules (Epstein, 2001). In her study, one of the main challenges

is to create easy-to-use and two-way communications between home and school

programs and student performance/progress. For example, teachers need to know when,

where and how parents can be reached; and parents also need to know when, where, and

how administrators, teachers and counselors can be reached (Epstein, 2001). In addition,

most families also want to communicate with other important people to help them such as

the school nurse, social workers, officers of parent organization, class parents, family

center coordinators, and others (Epstein, 2001).

Some parents also need inspiration to ask questions and to give ideas that will be

helpful to help their children succeed throughout the school years. It is a simple

provision, but many schools do not have open two-way communication channels so that
20

information, inquiries, and conversations can flow easily from school to home and from

home to school (Epstein, 2001). Moreover, additional big challenges include: when

families speak many languages, have diverse reading skills, work different shifts or

schedules, and have other matters that need thoughtful and responsive actions.

Type 3: Volunteerism

The type of involvement at school consists of parents and other volunteers who

assist teachers, administrators and children in classrooms or in other areas of the school

(Epstein, 2001). The volunteering activities in this type include recruiting, and training

volunteers; and recognizing parents who serve as audiences for students’ events and

performances as volunteers (Epstein, 2001). This also means family members who come

to school to support student performances, sports, or other events. The term “volunteer”

is redefined by Epstein to mean “not only those who come during the school day, but also

those who support school goals and children’s learning in any place at any time”

(Epstein, 2001, p.449). Therefore, what the school can do are to improve and vary the

schedules so that more families are able to attend the events and work as volunteers, and

to improve recruitment and training so that volunteers are more helpful to teachers,

students and schools improvement efforts (Epstein, 2001).

According to Deitz and Whaley (1997), “to promote type 3 involvement, school

leaders should recruit and organize parent help and support” (p.81). Volunteer programs

are not costly to expand the range of programs offered at a school, but involving parents

and community members in these programs is often difficult. Parents often have little

time available for volunteering activities; and other would-be volunteers avoid
21

involvement because they fear being asked to conduct tasks for which they are not

trained. Dietz and Whaley (1997) suggest some strategies that schools can do to offer

programs to improve volunteerism. A program should include the following components:

outreach and publicity; screening volunteers; assigning and training volunteers; and

evaluating volunteers and program (Dietz & Whaley, 1997)

However, the research finds that the number of volunteers is limited and most

volunteers are the same parents (Epstein, 2001). One of the many challenges of this type

to excel the volunteering program is to recruit widely, provide training, and create

flexible schedules and locations for volunteers so that all families know that their time

and talents are welcomed and valued (Epstein, 2001).

Type 4: At-Home Learning and Coaching

Involvement in home-learning activities include requests and guidance from

teachers for parents to help their own children at home on learning activities that are

associated with children’s class work. And these activities involve families with their

children in homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities and decision

making. According to Epstein, the term “help at home” means “how families encourage

and guide children, not how they “teach” school subject totally” (Epstein, 2001, p.454).

And “homework” is redefined as “not only means work that students do alone but also

interactive activities that students share and discuss with others at home” (Epstein, 2001,

p.454). At home parents guide their children toward postsecondary education, make sure

they read and do their homework, and promote the value of education (Henderson &

Mapp, 2002). They also direct children away from risky behavior, help them maintain
22

positive behavior and support them through problems at school (Catsambis, 1998; Fan &

Chen, 1999; Shumow & Lomax, 2001; Trusty, 1999). To improve this involvement, what

the school can do are: assist families in helping their children at home by providing

information on skills required for students to pass the grades; provide information to

families on how to monitor, discuss and help with homework and when and how to make

decisions about school programs, activities and opportunities at each grade levels so that

all student can succeed in school (Epstein, 1995)

“To promote type 4 involvement, school leaders should provide information and

ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other

curriculum-related decisions and planning” (Dietz & Whaley, 1997, p.97). Researchers

have shown that parent involvement in school activities and help with students’

schoolwork at home improves student attitudes and performance, enhances students’ self-

esteem, improves academic achievement, builds positive parent-child relationships and

helps parents to develop positive attitude toward school and the educational process

(Dietz & Whaley, 1997). According to the US Department of Education’s Educational

Resources Information Center, parent involvement at home produces good results for

both parents and children’s education such as offset negative external influences on

children (such as poverty); improve parent self-image; improve student achievement and

attitudes, and inside and outside school.

Dietz and Whaley (1997) suggest some strategies to improve home-learning and

coaching involvement. At-home learning and coaching extends learning beyond the

classroom and can maintain or improve overall level of parent involvement at the middle

23

and upper grade levels, where it usually goes down (Dietz & Whaley, 1997). Walberg

(1984) and Ascher (1988) suggests that when parents have limited time, as is normal

with single and working parents, one of the most efficient activities for parents is helping

their children with homework-based learning projects. The important feature of families

as educators in the home, noted by Cremin (1976,1977); Leichter (1974,1979);

McDermott, Goldman & Varenne (1984), is that much education takes place on a

moment-to-moment basis, including those processes that are intentional, systematic, and

sustained.

Family patterns, marital status, occupation, social support network, social capital

all help to explain the family’s ability to relate to school (Delgado-Gaitan, 1990). Also,

family attitudes, such as parental expectations and the child’s self-esteem, provide an

emotional framework for the children’s home learning environment (Delgado-Gaitan,

1990). Studies’ results showed that the more academically successful students most often

come from families where the parents are enthusiastically involved in every aspect of

their development (Delgado-Gaitan, 1990).

Many studies show that there are serious problems relating to the design,

assignment, completion and follow-up of homework in many elementary, middle and

high schools (Epstein, 2001). Scott-Jones (1995) suggests four levels of involvement of

parents and children in homework such as valuing; monitoring; assisting; and doing.

Therefore, parents need good information to help their children with valuing homework,

monitoring the completion of homework, and assisting them as best they can with their

work (Epstein, 1995).

24

 Students are learning in different ways and learn many different subjects;

however, most parents are not aware of all the subject matters or know how to interact

with their children on curricula matters; and many parents are not involved in the

important academic decisions that influence their children’s and family’s future (Epstein,

2001). Some of the challenges that the school face in improving this type of involvement

are: to design and implement interactive homework in which students take responsibility

to discuss important schoolwork and ideas with their families; and to sequence

information and activities that help students and parents set ambitious goals and strategies

for improving or maintaining success in school every year, and for post-secondary

education, training, and work (Epstein, 2001).

Type 5: Decision Making and Governance

Involvement in decision making, governance, and advocacy, includes parents and

others in the communities in participatory roles in the parent-teacher associations or

organizations, advisory councils, Title I programs, or other committee or groups at the

school, district or state level (Epstein, 1995). In this concept, she redefined the term

“decision making” to mean “a process of partnership to share views and take action

toward shared goals, not a power struggle” (Epstein, 2001, p.464). Type 5 activities help

prepare parents for leadership roles and assist parent representatives to obtain information

from and give information to the families that they represent (Epstein, 2001). In this

involvement, parents can also be activists in independent advocacy groups in the

community (Epstein, 1995). “To promote type 5 involvement, school leaders should

25

include parents and community residents in school decisions, developing parent leaders

and representatives” (Dietz & Whaley, 1997, p.107).

Therefore, schools should assist parents by training parent leaders and

representatives in decision-making skills and in ways to communicate with all parents

they represent and by offering information needed by the community groups for school

involvement activities, and schools should also recognize parent presence in school

councils, site-based management teams, committees, and other policy advisory groups

(Epstein, 2001). Because parents and teachers share an interest in and responsibility for

children’s learning and development, parent’s leadership and decision making skills,

parents’ voices and ideas add important dimensions to school decisions about children’s

education (Epstein, 2001).

In numerous schools, parents’ opinions about school policies are not considered

seriously. And some schools do not have parent leadership teams, parent organizations,

site-based management teams, or committee structure that includes family representatives

(Epstein, 1995). Even though such groups exist and involve parents in the teams, only

few parent representatives participate and they have limited access to information from

other families to share with the school, or do not often share the results from the school

meetings with other families in the community (Epstein, 2001). Although most families

want the parents’ voices represented in school decisions, increasingly most of the parents

still do not want to serve on committees or leadership positions (Epstein, 1995).

Therefore, schools still face some challenges regarding this type of involvement

such as to include parent leaders from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other groups
26

in the school; to offer training for parent representatives to develop leadership skills; and

to include student representatives along with parents in decision making (Epstein, 2001).

Epstein also suggests some strategies to improve parent decision-making skills: there

should be a satisfactory number of parent leaders that are selected or elected in ways that

represent parents of all groups of students who are from different neighborhoods, racial

and ethnic groups, and special interests; parents leaders must be in some ways helped to

effectively represent other parents by gathering their ideas on important issues and by

reporting back to the families they represent; administrators, teachers, students or others

from the community who work in decision-making teams, also must collect and give

information to those they represent.

Type 6: Collaborating with the Community

Agencies outside schools that partner with schools recognize their shared interests

in and responsibilities for children, and they work together to create better programs and

opportunities for students (Epstein, 1995). Developing school, family and community

partnerships can improve school programs and school climate, give family services and

support, improve parents’ skills and leadership, link families and others in schools and in

community, and assist teachers with their work (Epstein, 1995). The model of school,

family, and community partnerships places the student at the center. It is the obvious fact

that students are the main actors in their education, development and success in school

(Epstein, 1995). School, family and community partnership should not only work to

create successful students, but its aims should also be designed to engage, guide,

energize, and motivate students to create their own success (Epstein, 1995).

27

 A group of parents who work together creates a community; and communities

should also create school-like opportunities, events and programs that reinforce,

recognize and reward students for achievement, creativity, contribution, and excellence.

In addition, communities also establish family-like settings, services, and events to

capacitate families to completely support their children (Epstein, 1995). According to

Epstein (1995), the concept of a community-school involvement refers to “a place where

programs and services for students, parents and others are offered before, during, and

after the regular school day” (p.3). The practice of the school and community relationship

program can be designed and implemented well or poorly (Epstein, 2001). Well-

implemented partnership practices may not be useful to all kinds of families (Epstein,

1995). According to Epstein (1995), “good partnerships withstand questions, conflicts,

debates, and disagreements; provide structures and processes to solve problems; and are

maintained—even strengthened—after differences have been resolved” (p.4).

The collaboration between schools and the community can bring additional

resources, programs, and services from the community to schools. According to Epstein,

“community” includes “not only families with children in the schools but also all who are

interested in and affected by the quality of education, and communities are rated not only

on economic qualities but also on the strengths and talents available to support students,

families, and schools” (Epstein, 2001, p.469). “Collaboration and exchanges with

community organizations include connections with agencies, businesses, and other

groups that share responsibility for children’s education and future success” (Epstein,

2001, p.136). The activities include school programs that provide children and families

with access to community and help with services including after-school programs, health
28

services, and other resources that assist these arrangements and activities to support

children’s learning. Therefore, community involvement enables students, educators, and

families to contribute their services to schools and the community (Epstein, 2001).

School should know the community, share with the community, and draw on the

community resources to enhance and enrich the curriculum and other experiences of

students (Epstein, 2001). It is not easy for educators only to know and access all

resources available in their communities. But it is beneficial for students if educators and

parents get involved in type 6 and learn more about their communities and to draw upon

existent resources to help students develop in school and in life (Epstein, 2001).

However, schools still meet some challenges in this type of involvement (Epstein, 2001).

The first challenge is to identify the resources in the community for families,

students and schools that will develop the schools’ goals and programs to meet the needs

of students and families. In some schools, the goals/aims of business partners do not

associate with the goals of the school to promote student learning. According to Mick-

elson (1996) and Sanders (1999), ties with businesses, industries, organizations, agencies,

and other groups and individuals in the community should be designed to support, enrich,

and extend the school’s agenda to promote success for all students.

The second challenge is to inform all families and students about community

programs and services and to ensure quality access and opportunities for all participants

(Epstein, 2001). Schools have to define the term community (business, organizations, and

other groups in and around the school in the neighborhoods where students live or

worship, in places where parents work, and other places that are important to students and

29

families) wisely to establish connections with many members and groups who have an

interest in education and helping children to be successful lifelong learners (Epstein,

2001). Community collaboration can also improve the communication between educators

and parents. Schools are the most common place for meeting with parents, but they are

not the only possible sites (Epstein, 2001). Meeting or communicating with families in

the community may take place in other locations that are open and accessible to all such

as libraries, churches, community centers, parent centers, other organizations, and

business or community auditoriums (Epstein, 2001). Also, community plays an important

role in influencing student’s success, attitude and behavior. According to Epstein (2001),

“if the community reinforces school and family goals for student learning and success,

the spheres of influence of home, school and community overlap more in their messages

to students about the importance of school and learning; but if the community redirects

students away from school or family goals, the spheres of influence are pushed apart”

(p.475).

“To promote type 6 involvement, school leaders should indentify and integrate

resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family

practices, and student learning and development” (Dietz & Whaley, 1997, p. 115).

Volunteer programs and collaborative partnerships help schools to get extra programs

and services. They also develop the resources and assist teachers, counselors, and

administrators meet students’ ever-changing needs, and particularly positive side effects,

given the growing number of social responsibilities schools are asked to address (Dietz &

Whaley, 1997). The benefits that schools get from collaborating with communities, from

the entire programs and new equipment to occasional classroom speakers, are enhancing
30

academic resources; additional programs and services; professional expertise and

assistance; heightened community awareness; smoother decision making; improved

community image and public support (Dietz & Whaley, 1997).

Variables Influenced Parental Involvement Styles

Student educational outcomes are assumed to be influenced by parent involvement,

which itself is often supposed to be influenced by selected factors related to parents (most

frequently, socio-demographic variables, but sometimes more dynamic variables such as

parental attitudes) or selected factors related to schools (status variables characterizing

schools or more dynamic variables such as teacher behaviors) (Hoover-Dempsey &

Sandler, 1995). Parents’ responses to such various kinds of involvement activities will be

influenced by other variables (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995), such as gender; race,

class and ethnicity (Henderson & Mapp, 2002); skills and knowledge of parents;

employment and other family domains; and specific invitations and demands from the

child and the school (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). These variables will be

discussed as the following.

Gender

Relating gender to different type of parent involvement, researchers have found

that fathers and mothers were equally involved at home, but mothers were more involved

at school than fathers (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Lee Shumow and Joe Miller

(2001) found that involvement at home contributed to positive attitudes toward school,

while involvement at school contributed to higher grades. The higher the mothers’

31

education levels, the more mothers participated at school (fathers of all education levels

were less involved at school than mothers) (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997).

Students’ gender did not make a difference in the level or type of parent involvement

(Shumow & Miller, 2001). The more parents were involved at home, the more students

felt it was important to perform well in school (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). But mother’s

involvement is more strongly related to math and reading achievement for both sons and

daughters. Fathers’ involvement also has an effect, but it is not as significant (Henderson

& Mapp, 2002).

Racial Ethnic, Class and Cultural Variations Affecting Parent Involvement

Many new studies focus on an area of great interest to educators: how to create

and sustain connections between families and school staff from diverse cultural, class and

ethnic background (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Programs that successfully link families

and community invite involvement, are welcoming, and address specific parent and

community needs (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). According to Auerbach (2007), parent

roles in education are fundamentally socially structured by class and race but also

culturally intervened by particular cultural schemas and scripts.

Studies also found that Asian, Hispanic, and African-American parents were as

active in their middle and high school children’s education as white parents, but in

slightly different ways (Catsambis, 1998; Ho Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996; Keith & Keith,

1993). Other research findings also show that low-income families and families of color

are likely to be ready for training and home visits to assist them in helping their young

children learn (Baker et al., 1998; Epstein, Simon & Salinas, 1997). Families of all
32

income and social classes are involved at home, but families with higher income and

social levels tend to be more involved at school (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Ho Sui-Chu and Willms (1996) found some differences by ethnicity. African

Americans reported slightly higher involvement than whites reported in all types of

involvement at home. At schools, the levels of involvement reported were about the

same. Hispanics reported slightly higher levels of home supervision than whites did, but

reported about the same in all other types. Asians reported more supervision at home than

whites reported. Asians also reported spending less time discussing school issues,

communicating with school staff, volunteering and attending PTO meetings than white

families reported (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Specific Domain of Skills and Knowledge

The specific forms of involvement that a parent chooses are affected partly by the

specific domains of the parent’s skill and knowledge, and generally parents will select

types of involvement consistent with their perceptions of the particular skills and

knowledge they bring to the multiple tasks of their children’s schooling (Hoover-

Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). For instance, a parent who is knowledgeable about math but

has little ability in social studies is more likely to assist their children with math than with

social studies homework. A parent who is more comfortable speaking and has speaking

skill is more likely than others who do not speak or do not to volunteer to talk with

students about his or her experience and occupation. A parent who feels competent in

communicating effectively in the school setting is likely to choose involvement at home

rather than at school. Therefore, self perceptions of specific skills and knowledge will
33

influence the type of involvement parents choose; in general they are willing to select a

particular form of involvement in which they believe they can be successful (Hoover-

Dempsey & Sandler, 1995).

The Impact of Employment and Other Family Demands on Parent Involvement

Several researchers suggest that family-status model and related factors such as

time, energy, community contacts are importantly related to parent-involvement

decisions and influence (Entwisle, 1990; Hobbs et al., 1984; Lareau, 1989). The full

combination demands on parents’ time, space and energy, specifically related to their

employment and other family responsibilities, will address as the main influence on the

types of involvement they choose once they have made the decision (as a primary

function of parental role construction, parental sense of efficacy for helping children

succeed in school, and opportunities and demands showed by children and schools) to be

involved (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). The demands of employment—if parents

can have time off from work and if the school is close to the workplace. These factors

will affect both possibilities for and restriction on parent-involvement activities (Hoover-

Dempsey & Sandler, 1995).

Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995) suggest that parents who behold his or her

parental role as parental involvement and who has a strong sense of efficacy for assisting

their children’s education to do well in school will make the basic decision to become

involved and will choose involvement forms that accommodate within the mix of other

responsibilities and demands. And, the demands and responsibilities (outside of child’s

schooling) are mainly influential on a parent’s decision about how to become involved,
34

rather than whether to become involved (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995).However,

other type of parents who do not have a role including school involvement, or who has a

low sense of efficacy for helping their children will choose not to become involved

although they have free time from other employment or family-related tasks (Hoover-

Dempsey & Sandler, 1995).

Specific Invitations and Demands from the Child and the School

According to Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995), the particular “invitations”,

opportunities, and demands for involvement imparted by the child or the school also

influence the parents’ choice in choosing the involvement forms. For instance, the child

who asks for homework assistance will tend to influence the parent to become involved

in monitoring and revising homework. And the child who requests his or her parents to

come on the field trip will tend to influence the parent to be involve in providing

transportation and chaperoning the trip. Researchers also argue that the teacher who

sends home any homework assignments that involve parent-child interacting in a nofive-

minute time will tend to encourage parents’ homework involvement, and the teacher who

calls the parents and usually invite them to call at anytime with inquires will tend to

promote the levels of parent-teacher communication (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler,

1995).

Methodology

This study examines one locally-based nongovernmental organization (EPIC),

located in Buffalo, New York, which has the goal of improving education and children’s

35

learning. The reason for choosing this organization is that it has established connections

between educational stakeholders inside and outside schools. And, EPIC’s

programs/training are intended to help teachers, parents and school administrators

improve students’ learning by influencing what students learn at home and at school by

improving parental involvement and school, family and community collaboration. The

method of this study is to determine what EPIC is doing that helps improve parental

involvement based on the most dominant six types of parent involvement identified by

Joyce Epstein and other factors that affect parental involvement styles.

Procedure and Data Source

The methodological approach of this study is qualitative and primarily consists of

document study. The documents include flyers, print and electronic documents, and the

annual report from EPIC. This study will include an overview of EPIC, as well as the

descriptions of EPIC’s programs, their work, philosophy and mission, their limitations

and constraints, and an analysis of how this NGO is involved in education through

influencing parental involvement activities. The study is guided by the notion of the

connection between NGOs and education to improve parental participation.

Limitations of the Study

Typical of a study involving a limited site, the findings of this case study are

intended to be descriptive and informative, but not necessarily transferable to other

contexts where other NGOs are in different contexts with different priorities. This study

is most applicable to similar NGOs with education-based goals and missions since there

36

are many types of NGOs with different missions and goals. The economic, demographic

and political nature of the region the NGO is located within also influences its work and

thus this study is also limited to the context of Buffalo, Western New York.

Moreover, the information or data used for the analysis is based on what is found

in the printed and electronic documents from EPIC. There is no human-subject involved

for the analysis of this study. Since the main focus of this study is parental involvement,

other EPIC programs not related to parent involvement are not examined.

Description of the Case Study

The organization that is the focus of this study is a local nongovernmental

organization, Every Person Influences Children (EPIC). According to EPIC’s annual

report (2007), it is a national not-for-profit organization that provides effective programs

and resources for parents, teachers and school administrators that are intended to help

them raise responsible and academically successful children. EPIC was founded by

Robert Wilson in 1980 after the murder of his wife in 1977. The reason he founded EPIC

lies behind the violent actions of a 15-year-old neighbor who killed his wife. He

investigated the child’s life and found out that he had been abused, neglected and

experienced a miserable life. EPIC was established to prevent other children from falling

into the same track as that boy. EPIC receives various sources of funding such as federal

funds (for some programs), donations from individuals, the public, and other funding

from family and corporate foundations.

37

 EPIC's mission is to help parents, teachers and community members raise

children to become responsible adults. To achieve its mission, EPIC combines an award-

winning parenting program with a school-based character education curriculum and

offers leadership training in several areas (Annual Report, 2007). EPIC is working with

schools, churches, hospitals, and community agencies throughout New York Sate and

New Jersey and has been implemented in sixteen states and the Virgin Islands. EPIC’s

programs encourage parents and teachers to proactively develop the foundation of

character and provide knowledge, skills and experiences to maximize the academic

success of their children. Three main programs are offered to parents, children, teachers

and administrators. Each EPIC program stems from the principle upon which EPIC was

founded: to help parents, teachers and community members raise children to have

successful lives in their community and wider society.

EPIC believes that parents are the primary teachers of their children. Because of

the challenges face by parents today, EPIC also believes that it is now more than ever

necessary that parents, teachers, community members work together to build a strong

foundation of knowledge, skills and character in all of the children. There are three main

areas of focus that are designed to meet the specific needs of all the target groups. Those

three areas are: Pathway to Parenting and Parent Involvement, Pathway to Character, and

Pathway to Leadership, which will be discussed below.

EPIC’s Pathway to Parenting and Parent Involvement program offers parents a

comprehensive and continuum-styled programming, from the birth of their child through

young adolescence that develops parenting skills, parent advocacy in education, and

38

parent leadership in communities. The program helps parents address behavior issues,

develop family literacy, and gain understanding about how to be involved in their child’s

education. There are many programs within Pathway to Parenting.

EPIC’s Pathway to Character Program is a character education program for

teachers and parents to help children develop the basis traits of good character, while

preparing them to achieve academic success. The program includes a parent involvement

component that connects parents through letters home, parent development, and other

EPIC parenting workshops. Pathway to Character helps students develop core ethical

values that will enable them to think critically and act responsibly, and also seeks to

improve their academic skills by providing a meaningful and challenging academic

curriculum. It is a comprehensive academic curriculum that teaches to higher learning

standards while incorporating personal character development. And the lessons in the

curriculum are created by teachers who know what schools need in order to fit character

education into a teacher’s busy day.

Pathway to Leadership Program is a training series that offers parents, school

administrators, and communities training experiences that develop individuals to become

leaders, at home and in their community, with an emphasis on developing effective

partnerships between teachers and parents to benefit children. There are three series of

programs. (1) Parents as Advocates Program aims at helping parents understand the

importance of their roles as positive advocates for their children, and teaching their

children to advocate for themselves. (2) Parent Leadership Institute Training develops

leadership roles in the home environment and in the school community. It includes four

39

topics: foundations of parent leadership, managing conflict, making decisions, solving

problems, building on the foundations, and introduction to the standards and academic

assessments. Similarly, (3) Creating Home/School Partnerships and Parent Involvement

Training engages school principals, teachers, and parent leaders as partners to help

students achieve academic and personal success.

Findings

Roles EPIC Plays in Improving Parental Involvement

EPIC has offered many programs and resources that are categorized into the six

types of parent involvement which are discussed below.

Type 1: Parenting Skills

EPIC Pathway to parenting program can help develop parenting skills and parent

advocacy in education that contribute to type 1 involvement. According to Epstein

(2001), school should provide workshops relating to children’s health, safety and other

parenting skills that help develop child-rearing. School leaders should also assist parents

in creating the good home environment that can support all the children to be successful

students (Epstein, 2001). EPIC plays a key role in fulfilling this gap and help schools

with the challenges they are facing to improve parenting skills.

EPIC provides or contributes to parenting skills as follow. First, EPIC offers some

electronic sources about tips/resources and lessons for improving child behavior such as

how to handle a clingy child, how to deal with the challenges to increase a child’s self-
40

esteem, how to intervene in children’s disagreement, how to help the children talk, how

to help maintain the consistency for the children and how to talk to the children about sex

and making comments about sexually oriented things.

Another problem is that parents lack parenting resources where parents can learn

some basic parenting skills to raise their children (Dietz & Whaley, 1997). EPIC has

helped the school fulfill this need by offering workshops and training to all kinds of

parents (black, white, Asians), and teaching parents skills for newborns, infants, toddlers,

young children and young adolescents in the community which is convenient for parents.

Ready, Set, Parent is one of the parenting skill programs that provide workshops

to parents, particularly mothers in the hospitals of Erie County (convenient, in their

community) to know how to raise and be responsible for their newborns. Parents attend

the parenting workshops and the workshops are intended to be helpful because they give

parents information about newborn growth, development, safety, and an introduction to

the Ready, Set Parents workshops series that they will be able to attend in their

communities. According to EPIC’s annual report (2007), the program benefits the

newborns’ parents in several factors such as increased confidence in the parenting role;

increased knowledge about child development, behavior and wellness, increased skills in

parent/child communication and childcare; reduced risk factors of child abuse and

neglect; parental growth through the group information exchange process; and baby’s

emotional and cognitive development reaches optimum potential (EPIC’s Website).

41

 Epstein (2001) states that one of the challenges of the Type 1 is how to gather

families and enable them to share information with other families who want and need it,

not only the ones that attend the workshops in the school building. EPIC tries to help

schools deal with this challenge by giving a workshop called Parenting Infants and

Toddlers. It gives parents the opportunity to meet with other parents, share ideas,

knowledge and information, express themselves and see how other parents handle

different situations and develop the guidance to handle different situations in the future.

All ten workshops in which parents participate together include parenting skill topics

such as realistic expectations for parents and responsibilities as parents; ways to

strengthen parent-child bond; ways to understand the importance of parents’ own positive

self-esteem as a parent and to promote self-esteem in young children; ways/skills that

help children cope with stress effectively; appropriate ways to understand and set the

limits for young children; ways to indentify parent-child interactions that promote

independence in the young child; identifying ways to help the child learn to talk; ways to

establish routines for young infants and toddlers; understanding and identifying ways that

young children learn though play; and understanding the importance of reading and

identifying ways to promote literacy skills, starting in infancy.

Parenting Young Children is another workshop series that highlights the

significant roles of parents in child’s development. It is intended to help parents

understand how they can prepare their children for social and academic growth. The

contents of the workshops include diverse styles of parenting and a decision-making

process for parents to use in their home; exploring ways to raise resilient children and

42

ways to teach parents to meet their children’s needs; strategies to reduce stress and how

to use support network for single parents; ways of listening and responding that improve

communication between children and parents and children and other adults; how to teach

a child to give and receive love; exploring ways of developing character in young

children; practical ways to foster healthy self-esteem in children; and how to teach

children the appropriate and productive ways to express their feelings.

Another parenting workshop is Parenting Young Adolescents. This program is

intended to help parents and to encourage them around positive solutions and the support

of children. The contents include: physical/intellectual and emotional support for

children; improving communication skills between adults and adolescents; helping

children form identity and independence; share techniques that encourage responsible

behavior and the relationships among freedom and responsibility; improving relationship

between teens, peers and family; developing good character in young adolescents at

home; talking about sexual development with children; and talking to their children and

keeping them away from drug.

EPIC also tries to directly help teen students who become parents at young age to

develop parenting skills to find a successful path to parenting as a teen and growing as a

person through “Just for Teen Program”. The content includes fundamental parenting

skills of how to develop relationship with the child and personal well-being. They are

also provided with resources for parenting teens to learn how to deal with a new life with

babies. The program has been implemented in three Buffalo Public Schools and served

over 150 teen mothers. EPIC reported positive outcomes: participants are more confident

43

in their parenting skills, have more knowledge of how to build literacy skills in children,

and respond to their children’s behavior and their children’s social and emotional needs.

It was successful for enhancing skills of teenage parents that participated (EPIC’s

Website).

EPIC also provides facilitator training for parenting skills to parents and other

community members to facilitate workshops for other parents in their communities. They

indicate that they use the interactive approach to involve parent volunteers, community

members and other EPIC trainers who work together to exchange information, opinions

during the facilitator trainings and the materials are also provided both in English and

Spanish to parents and community members when they go to train other parents in the

community. One of the skills in the training is about the development of group

communication skills to help other parents to obtain parenting skills.

To parents with challenges, EPIC offers parenting skills workshops through At-

Risk Parenting Program. The workshops are intended to help parents who suffer from

parental isolation, have poor parenting role models, lack positive parenting skills, suffer

from family stress and lack of parent/child bonding to know some basic parenting skills

in order for them to move toward achieving their personal goals as individuals and as

parents.

Parenting Outreach Program is for parents who are in jail and are not able to

attend the parenting skills training at schools. All the workshops about parenting infants

and toddlers, parenting young children and parenting young adolescents are held in the

44

jails for incarcerated fathers and mothers. EPIC claims that they work well because they

are modified to fit the scheduling or programming needs of the particular jail (EPIC’s

Website).

One of the challenges of Type 1 involvement is “Lack of Time”. Parents’ time is

not flexible enough to attend meetings or training provided by schools. Most parents are

single parents and work longer hours to support their families (Dietz &Whaley, 1997).

Parental Information and Resource Center provides parents with convenient and easy

access to parenting-support materials in both electronic and printed. Parents can have the

accessibility to parenting tips on the website of EPIC and books, magazines and other

resources in the Parental Center in EPIC Building in the community. Parents come in,

read the materials at any time, meet with other parents and community members to share

ideas and experience, and discuss their opinions about the reading they are doing

together.

Type 2: School-Home Communication

EPIC also has a role in promoting home-school communication. It offers a Parent

Leadership Institute Training. They train and develop parents’ knowledge and skills in

communication with school personnel and overcoming barriers to parent involvement.

The leadership training addresses the discussion barriers to parent

involvement/communication with educators and how to overcome them; and tips or

strategies to help parents speak and communicate in public with teachers and other school

personnel. One of the workshops that is about Academic Standard and Assessments

45

promotes Type 2 involvement. The trainers work with parents to review the state learning

standards and discuss what impacts they may have on a child’s education and to identify

ways parents and children can become more familiar with the concepts, principles,

language, and assessments used by educators in creating and implementing the standards

in the classroom; and develop meaningful strategies and techniques that parents can use

to support their children’s efforts at achieving the standards in school and non-school

settings.

The Parenting Young Children’s workshop also contributes to the improvement of

home-school relation. It tries to help parents understand what their roles are in their

children’s education and how they can help their children succeed in schools. At the

workshop, parents learn the important roles of families and educators who work together

in raising and educating the community’s children, and also learn the ways to work with

school staff regarding character education. Also, in Parenting Young Adolescents

Program, one of the workshops helps parents to communicate more with schools. The

goal of this program is to explore ideas for positive ways parents can become more

involved and have close communication with teachers and administrator in order to

influence their young adolescent’s school experience (EPIC’s Website & Annual report,

2007).

Creating Home-School Partnerships and Parent Involvement Program provides

training to parents, teachers and school personnel. Participants have the opportunity to

meet each other, share the opinions and learn from one another during the training. Some

of the goals of the training are: to discuss the key guidelines for creating home-school

46

relationship and communication, involving parents in their children’ academic life at

school and community; make parents access the school’s current status; and identify the

best practices for creating home-school relationship and parent involvement.

EPIC also gives some tips easily found on their website for teachers and

administrators of how to communicate with parents. The written communication with

parents should use simple, jargon-free language and be relatively short in length.

Consistent times and means of communication should be established. EPIC gives some

other tips on Parent Teacher Conference (how to prepare for the conference, how to

conduct the conference, and what to do after the conference). According to EPIC, it is a

good idea to enter these meetings with a basic strategy in mind, as well as an open and

inviting attitude to the parent participants (EPIC’s Website).

Type 3: Volunteering

It is challenging for schools to provide training for volunteering, excel

volunteering programs, and provide flexible time and locations for volunteers (Epstein,

2001). Non-profit organizations in the community can help provide knowledge to parents

for them to be interested in being involved and volunteer in schools. This includes a

program provided by EPIC called Leadership training (Parent Leadership Institute

Training) can be an indirect form of training to develop volunteering in schools. When

parents gain this leadership skill, they are more likely to be involved in school’s work

such as volunteering and being a member of school councils and parent leader teams. The

training helps parents develop leadership skills in their home environment and school

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community by focusing on knowledge in personal motivation, academic assessment,

personal assessment of competencies, skills development in the areas of effective

communication, parent advocacy, understanding the New York State Learning/academic

standard, conducting meeting, and public speaking. Parents with this knowledge and

skills might be able to volunteer in schools and know what they are supposed to do to

support schools such as supporting school goals, volunteering to assist teachers in

classrooms and volunteering to be members of parent leadership teams at schools

The Parents as Advocates Program can be another indirect form of training that

provide parents with some skills for them to be able to work with the school such as some

knowledge about advocacy and how to advocate for children, maneuvering a strong

relationship with children, understanding and identifying the three main types of

communication and utilizing them effectively with children and schools which include

some tips or ideas of how to volunteer in schools. Parents with this skills and knowledge

might be able to identify ways to support the children’s learning at schools and to support

the school’s goals and students’ performance, and attend schools’ events.

Type 4: At-Home Learning and Coaching

According to EPIC’s annual report 2007, Parent Center Project create school-

based parent centers. It helps increase parents’ knowledge of how to help their children

do well in school through teaching their children at home. At the center in the parents’

community, parents can have access to many good reading resources that relate to school

curriculum so that parents can gain the knowledge of what to teach and help their

48

children with schoolwork at home. Parents can come to read and borrow the materials at

their convenient time. Parent Information/Media is another part of Parent Resource

Center Project. EPIC partners with the Western New York Public Broadcast Association

and New York Newspaper Publishers Association to create themed messages to parents

around such topics as advocating for and teaching children, communicating with

teachers, and ways to be involved in child’s education at home. EPIC also helps provide

some methods or tips for parents to teach their children through their website such as

singing songs, telephoning and other English Language and Arts Activities for ages 7 to

10.

The Ready Set Read Program is a workshop series focused on family literacy

development and preparing children for school success. The purpose of this training is for

parents to identify and explore individual learning styles for themselves and their

children, and to help them to better understand the best learning approach for their

children. The program is invaluable for improving children’s learning through reading.

Parents are trained to select age-appropriate books, and explore how to create stimulating

learning experiences for their children in everyday surroundings. The curriculum is based

on the U.S Department of Education National Reading Panel research on best practices

for reading instruction and family literacy. It provides practical guidance for parents to

promote and encourage literacy in their children. The workshop is offered in English and

Spanish. The program asks parents to commit to an additional five hours per week of

conscious literacy activities with their children and assist them with creating a “literacy

friendly” environment in their home. The topics that help parents educate their children at

49

home are: brain development and learning styles; understanding how children learn to

read; how to read with your child; how to learn through play and daily life; and how to

help the child succeed in school.

To help the children succeed in schools and in post-secondary education, and to

make the decision about what to teach to help with homework, parents should be

provided with some basic knowledge about the school system (Epstein, 2001; Henderson

& Mapp, 2002). EPIC’s Parents as Advocates program can help the school with this

issue. The program aims at helping parents understand the importance of their role as

positive advocates by providing them with basic knowledge of the school system and

how to communicate with key school staff to get information about school in order to

relate to what they can teach and help their children with homework at home.

Type 5: Decision Making and Governance

EPIC provides a continuum of services and products that help to build a school's

capacity by encouraging school personnel and parents to become part of a leadership

“team” in growing successful children. EPIC has a role in helping schools develop parent

leaders through some parent leadership programs. Parent Leadership Institute Training

trains a group of parents to be leaders in their school community. It also develops the

personal characteristics of leaders, effective communication skill, parent advocacy,

conflict resolution, resiliency, and public speaking skills in them.

The Parent Advocacy Program also gives parents additional knowledge about

school system, how to get involved in their children’s education and to participate more

50

within school activities. This workshop is intended to help parents develop the

communication skills with other parents, community members and educators in schools.

This can encourage parents to become involved more in school leadership teams and

communicate more with the parent representatives, and parent leaders can easily share

the information they have with other parents that they represent.

Type 6: Collaborating with the Community

EPIC’s services and products are based on the fundamental belief that parents,

schools, and the community must be partnered to create the best possible chance for

children to succeed in school and in life. EPIC services are well-grounded in research that

suggests parent involvement and positive home-school partnerships are known factors in

improving a child's academic success.

EPIC is an intermediary organization that links parents, schools to the

community. It connects parents, other educational stakeholders, community members and

school administrators together through two workshops. Creating Home-School

Partnership and Parent Involvement Training assists school representatives, other

stakeholders and parents in identifying and engaging in comprehensive effort to help

students achieve academically and be successful as individuals. During the training, the

participants including teachers, school personnel, parents and the facilitators from EPIC

work together to define and the discuss the key guidelines for creating home-school

partnerships. This is a form of meeting and communicating between families and school

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personnel in other place in the community that can enhance family, school and

community collaboration (Epstein, 2001)

Another EPIC Program, Facilitator Training for Parenting Skills Workshops,

trains parent volunteers, community members, teachers and agency staff to lead EPIC’s

Ready, Set, Read workshops for other parents and caregivers in their schools and

communities. During the training, participants work closely together, and exchange

information and contacts. This action can build the relationships among parents, teachers,

and community members. Teachers who are trained to be facilitators lead Ready Set

Read workshops in the communities for other parents where training is needed. Teachers

have a chance to learn more about the community, parents and know what they need and

the resources in the communities that can be used to support children’s learning.

Another work of EPIC is to bring information about resources available within the

community in New York State for schools to be aware of and be able to use those

resources. EPIC both values and prioritizes the community because in every aspect, the

community is what makes EPIC successful (EPIC’s Website). A variety of community

resources for children, adolescents, parents, and teachers have been made readily

available to suit schools’ needs. Those resources are listed in EPIC’s website and

available at the parent center in EPIC Building. EPIC has made every attempt to provide

individuals residing within the different regions of New York State with the resources

they need such as in Greater Buffalo, Niagara Region, Central New York, New York

City, Central Hudson, and Westchester.

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Discussion and Recommendation for EPIC

What EPIC Does not Do/ EPIC or Other Similar Organizations Could Do to

Improve Parent Involvement Based on the Six Types of Parent Involvement

Literature

Type 1: Parenting Skills

Dietz and Whaley (1997) argue that parents are not involved in their children’s

education because they are in low socio-economic status and they are struggling with

meeting the basic needs for living such as food, proper shelter, jobs and medical services.

EPIC does not select or separate the parents’ groups based on their income or their living

conditions which they should do in order to provide particular training or resources to

each group to meet the need of all parents and be aware of the kinds of program(s) those

parents need to address their needs so that later they will be actively or effectively

involved in their children’s education. Studies suggest that parents of higher socio-

economic status (SES) often play a proactive role in managing and participating in their

children’s K-12 matters, whereas parents of low SES tend to provide indirect, behind-the-

scenes support for education (Barker & Stevenson, 1986; Gandara, 1995; Lareau, 1989;

2003; McDonough, 1997; Mehan et al., 1996). The research suggests that EPIC should

study the income and style of the involvement of parents to make sure the programs or

workshops they provided are suitable enough for all kinds of parents.

Type 2: School-Home Communication

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 Educating parents to become collaborators and problem-solvers involves creating

opportunities for parents to increase their knowledge of school policies and the

curriculum, and to equip them with strategies to support children’s learning (Freedman &

Montgomery, 1994). There are different activities in this type of involvement such as

helping parents to solve problems with schools that may influence their child’s learning

and behavior that EPIC can also do to help schools with this type of involvement. This

should include skills for parents to learn how to solve problems related to children

learning in cooperation with schools. During the training EPIC should also involve

counselors, schools leaders, teachers, caregivers, social workers, officers of parent

organization, class parents, family center coordinators, and other key people that are

involved in education so that they can build a network with parents. Parents then know

who they can contact when they need help. During meetings or training, EPIC should

also embrace school programs in the curriculum for training so that parents will be aware

of what is happening at the school, the school’s standards and programs, their children’s

academic progress, and what they can do to help their child and the school.

Although EPIC gives some information and tips on the website about parent-

teacher conferences, they are unlikely to be enough. EPIC has trainers and experts in

parenting and parental involvement who could also help schools organize parent-teacher

conferences. This study, however, did not examine what EPIC trainers included in their

workshops and meetings with parents. I do not know the extent to which EPIC works

closely with the school with whom they partner, but they could be a good connection

between parents and educators. EPIC could and possibly share information with schools

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about parents’ training and backgrounds so that educators can learn more about them and

can enhance the communication between home and schools. According to Epstein

(1995), one of the biggest challenges of home-school communication is when families

speak many languages. This raises the question of whether EPIC can and does provide

schools with translators so that they can help teachers and administrators communicate

better with parents.

Type 3: Volunteering

Although EPIC provides parent leadership and advocacy training and some

sessions include information and lessons for parents to be more confident and involved in

school activities, these do not appear to be particular training that includes skills for

parents to be volunteers. This raises the question of whether EPIC also works with the

school and helps them improve working with parents and welcoming volunteers.

According to Dietz and Whaley (1997), parents often have little time available for

volunteering activities; and other would-be volunteers avoid involvement because they

fear being asked to conduct tasks for which they are not trained. Therefore, to promote

this type of parent involvement, EPIC might expand their training to address the skills or

lessons that parents need to know about volunteering work at schools. Such training

should help reduce parents’ fears of being present at schools and helping with school

tasks. EPIC could also provide facilitating training for potential volunteers in the

community. Then participants who first learn the skills can disseminate and share

information and ideas with other parents in the community at convenient locations and

times.

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Type 4: Home-Learning and Coaching

Literacy training and parent advocacy training that are currently provided by

EPIC seem to be not enough to improve at-home learning and coaching. Research

suggests that there are other areas that EPIC might address to help improve this type of

involvement. Other means of training or delivering information to parents can be good

ways to involve parents in children’s learning at home. For example, parents could be

provided with information on how to monitor, discuss and help at home with their

children’s homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities and decision

making (Epstein, 2001). Therefore, in order to do these things, parents should be

provided with information or training on how to help their children with homework.

EPIC could include this subject matter such as how parents can interact effectively with

their children on curriculum-related matter and how to be involved in their children’s

academic decision making that can affect their children’s future into one of the training

sessions. This raises the question of how EPIC can work with the school to get the better

understanding and learn about the school curriculum-related matter and other school

standards.

One of the challenges of at-home learning is when parents have diverse reading

skills (Epstein, 1995). Home learning is also influenced by factors such as level of

education of parents, and family behaviors; for example, parents read to children and

enforce rules about doing homework and watching television (Delgado-Gaitan, 1990).

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So, if possible, EPIC could give the instruction during the training (Ready, Set, Red) in

many languages based on the language backgrounds of all the participants and address

each participant’s style(s) of involvement at home.

Type 5: Decision Making and Governance

From the literature studied about parent involvement in this type, there are other

gaps that EPIC might be able to fulfill to increase the involvement and the effectiveness

of the parent leadership program. Providing parent leadership training is unlikely to be

enough. If possible, EPIC could work closely with the school, and the training should

target the parent representatives or leaders and work cooperatively with the school to

develop the leadership capacities of parent leaders or representatives. This possible

provision relates to the question whether EPIC is currently providing any parent

leadership program in any particular school. Another thing EPIC might be able to do is to

gather information about all other parent participants and share the information with

potential or current parent leaders in the school so that parents know and learn more

about other parents. It might be easy for parent representatives to share information with

other parents about what they get from schools and the training and other necessary

information regarding the support of children’s education.

The challenges of this type of involvement are for schools to include parents from

diverse backgrounds including all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other groups from

different neighborhoods and other special interest groups, and also include student

representatives along with parents in decision making (Epstein, 2001). The thing that

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EPIC might be able to do to help meet this challenge, which they do appear to be

currently doing, is to access and to collect the information about racial, demographic and

ethical backgrounds of parents in the community, communicate with them, and

encourage them to be involved in the training, as well as promote student attendance in

the training. This activity can promote parents’ and students’ knowledge and motivation

to attend the parent leadership team in schools as well (Epstein, 1995).

Type 6: Collaborating with the Community

Involving parents and communities in an education partnership has become a

tremendous challenge facing schools (Freedman & Montgomery, 1994). Based on the

study of the program of EPIC relating to promoting school-family partnership, EPIC

appears to help link families and schools with the community and schools with families

through home-school partnership training, supply resource information about the

community, and facilitate training.

Research suggests that there are other things that EPIC might be able to do to

promote school-community and home-community collaboration. It is not easy for

educators to know and access all resources available in their communities (Epstein,

2001). EPIC could possibly have a program with schools that provides training to school

administrators addressing the content of how to develop partnerships with organizations

and local businesses, and how to identify and integrate resources and services available in

the community to strengthen school programs. This possible provision might lead to a

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question if EPIC currently has or how EPIC is able to access information about all

resources in the community.

Moreover, EPIC might be able to coordinate and connect schools with other

agencies including education-based NGOs, and local businesses in the community that

can provide schools with more resources and programs, such as after-school programs

and health and childcare services. EPIC might also be able to promote school-community

relations by working with school leaders to bring in human resources available in the

community such as classrooms speakers who fit into the current school programs and

curriculum, and professional expertise from outside the school that is needed (counseling,

academic advising, or technology, etc.). In addition, if not already provided, EPIC might

also seek funding to provide some resources to schools such as parent manuals for

improving parenting skills and literacy, and programs and services such as discussion

groups or forums where administrators can meet with other community members,

businesses representatives, counselors, caregivers, and other agencies so that they can

exchange information and build relationships and partnerships.

In addition to promoting school-community relations, research also suggests the

need to strengthen home-community relations. EPIC might be able to help improve

means of communication for reaching all the families. For example, EPIC might be able

to improve media relations and provide a website or TV broadcasts that include

information about the resources available within the community such as child care

services, counseling, and local non-profit organizations that can benefit parents,

community members and schools. EPIC might be able to offer an outreach program to

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inform all families within the community about the resources available in the community

and the accessibility to those resources and the chance to use them. To improve the

communication and exchange of information between families and community members,

EPIC could try to obtain the resources to make the parent center open and available to all

families, students and community members for them to come in and read the materials

and obtain information about the community.

Other Considerations

It is important to keep in mind that the suggestions for EPIC are based on the

incomplete knowledge of EPIC’s current activities and resources. Information about

EPIC that is offered in this section has been limited to their described and written

documentation.

It is important to consider parents’ responses to or the selections of various

involvement styles that are influenced by variables such as gender, class and ethnicity;

the skills and knowledge of parents; employment and other family domains; the specific

invitation and demands from the child and the school (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler,

1995; Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Based on the data collected from the EPIC documents,

EPIC appears not to mention issues of gender, class, ethnicity, parents’ knowledge and

employment and other involvement and invitation from children. Therefore, it is not

known how EPIC addresses those variables or factors that affect the involvement of

parents in their children’s education. This raises a question of whether, or how, EPIC

addresses the issues of gender, race, class and ethnicity when working with parents.

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 For gender, research suggests the need to encourage or enhance more father

participation in parent involvement because Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995) state

that fathers of all education levels were less involved at school than mothers. The

provision of training for fathers might be able make a difference in children’s education.

Fathers with parenting skills and other skills such as volunteering, advocacy and

leadership may also help mothers with home-learning, assisting with homework,

volunteering at school, and being members of a school council and parent leadership

teams. And the mother groups of involvement should be targeted in EPIC’s training

activities. EPIC might be able to offer further education to low-educated mothers or help

them obtain such education because research has indicated that the higher mothers’

education levels, the more mothers participated at school (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Parents of color and schools are often divided by cultural classes as well as by

legacies of racism, deficit thinking, and mutual distrust (Delgado-Gaitan, 1994; Fine,

1993; Fordham, 1996). Many partnership models and research on them fail to address the

need and experiences of many parents of color/low income, including their structural

discomfort relating with schools (Auerbach, 2007). Middle-class and upper-class parents

have more influence over schools and decisions about their children’s schooling. While

poor and working- class parents have less power and are more uncertain and have a more

distant relationship with school staff (Olivos, 2003; Wells & Serna, 1996; Yonezawa,

1997). As race is also often closely related to class, parents of color are less likely to have

contact with schools, more likely to approach schools with caution and mistrust, and

more likely to encounter indifference and discomfort in their limited contact with

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educators (Fine, 1991; Fordham, 1996; Gandara, 1995; Lareau & Horvat, 1999;

Yonezawa, 1997). So, perhaps EPIC could possibly target more parents of color and

working-class parents and help close the gap between them and schools by encouraging

them or providing them with resources and training to make them feel comfortable and

competent enough to be involved in their children’s education.

Lopez, Scribner, and Mahitivanichcha (2001) argue that marginalized families

need more home involvement by educators that responds to the basic needs of the family

and builds trusting relationships rather than more school involvement by parents.

Regarding this issue, EPIC could possibly work with educators or implement a program

in schools to encourage educators to improve home-involvement activities, for example,

guiding teachers to promote more homework that children can work on with their parents

and encouraging teachers to do home visits and communicate with parents in their homes.

It is also important for EPIC to consider, which they may already do, the income, culture

and class of parents so that they can address their needs and improve parent involvement

programs. If possible, EPIC could study the racial and cultural backgrounds of the

parents who attend their training and include topics that address their cultural differences

and their parenting styles and involvement in their children’s upbringing and schooling.

Self perceptions of specific skills and knowledge will influence the types of

involvement parents choose (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). For parent leadership

and parent advocacy training, it is also important to consider this factor. EPIC might

consider selecting the volunteering parents who attend their training and develop their

skills and knowledge in such areas as speaking, social interaction, math, science, literacy,

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etc. or what they bring with them so that they can become successful parent leaders and

advocates in particular areas that they are good at. In relation to employment and other

family demands, EPIC appears to address the issues of time constraints and employment

responsibility. Their training is often held on weekends and in the centers in the

community so that it maximizes the attendance of parents and other educators. Character

Education program activities possibly already includes homework-based and interactive

activities in which children can involve or invite their parents or their grandparents to

help them with their assignments or homework. If not, then it is recommended that such

activities be included.

Conclusion and Recommendations

All families care about their children, want them to succeed, and are willing to

obtain better information from schools and communities in order to be good partners in

children’s education. “Just about all teachers and administrators would like to involve

families, but many do not know how to go about building positive and productive

programs and are consequently fearful about trying, which creates a “rhetoric rut”, in

which educators are stuck, expressing support for partnerships without taking an action”

(Epstein, 1995, p.4). Therefore, when looking across the literature and at the work of

EPIC, it should be apparent that education-based NGOs can be an intermediary party to

connect schools, parents and communities to serve children’s learning through helping

improve parent participation. The study sought to explore a number of questions—what

is meant by NGO? What is their work? What are types/styles of parent involvement?

What do NGOs do to help improve parental participation? A number of critical messages

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emerged from this study that can raise questions and recommendations for NGOs, EPIC,

school administrators and future researchers.

NGOs and Education

There are many types of NGOs, so it is reasonable to suggest that the complete

understanding of NGOs is not limited only to international organizations such as

UNICEF, UNESCO, or Oxfam, etc. NGOs are broadly involved in many areas, locally

and internationally to address social needs. One type of NGOs, such as a locally-based

organization like EPIC, plays an important role in education to help address common

social and educational issues. However, not many NGOs address the need of schooling or

support education. Most NGOs’ work is dealing with health issues, political and

environmental issues. Yet, many NGOs are coming to realize the importance of education

because education also has an immense impact on human society (Goel, 2007), which

also needs the attention and additional support beyond that of national and state

governments. Many studies show the continuing debates over educational issues such as

parent involvement, teacher education, principal leadership, high-stake testing,

assessments and curriculum in schools (Sleeter & Grant, 1997). These are the fields that

education-based NGOs can work on domestically.

From this brief case study, we can suggest that education-based NGOs can have a

significant role in strengthening public schooling since they are independent entities and

work collaboratively with the government, schools and individuals, and often with great

and more diverse financial support. Moreover, they have their own expertise that can be

brought into the field of education as an additional support to the work of schools. For
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example, the NGO in the case study brings their own expertise such as conducting

trainings on the topics of parent involvement, leadership as a supplement to the parent

involvement in the school.

Role of EPIC in Supporting Education

There are many areas in education that existing NGOs work with such as

providing financial aids, child care service, afterschool programs, and supplying

educational materials, promoting home, school and community partnership etc. What

EPIC has done also falls in these areas. The study of the programs of EPIC leads to a

conclusion that EPIC’s work with parents, community members, and educators

influences the involvement of parents and educators in children’s education, and

strengthen the relationship between family school and the community. EPIC provides

educational resources and trainings to parents, teachers, administrators and other

community members, which may influence child education and parent involvement.

EPIC is not for profit and is oriented to serve the best interests of the children. Its

missions, goals and history can lead to the assumption that EPIC works closely with the

government and helps schools with a number of areas in relation to parental involvement.

However, the work of NGOs is constrained by the rules and regulations of the

government, especially when they are dependent on government funding. Although EPIC

embraces new skills or subjects directly and indirectly into their programs, it inevitably

has to align them with the state’s standard. Therefore, EPIC should be more flexible in

terms of the topic/programs selection and implementation to support what schools and

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parents want or need. EPIC should also build more inter-organizational

partnership/cooperation with other education-based NGOs with similar missions and

schools within and out of the country to learn more about their programs, and what

schools need, to improve parent involvement in order to raise the children to be

responsible and capable adults and for them to be lifelong learners instead of teaching

them only for the tests.

Roles of EPIC in Improving Parental Involvement

Across the study of the programs and services provided by EPIC, it can be

concluded that EPIC is trying to make a difference in the field of parental involvement by

supporting schools through parent education. Its programs and services are intended to

help strengthen the relationships between parents and their children’ schools, increase

communication levels between parents and teachers, promote literacy and advance the

developmental progress of children from birth through age ten (Annual Report, 2007).

According to Havey (2004), parents who participated in Pathway to Parenting program

for six weeks are reported to have gained the following: positive attitudes toward their

roles as parents; positive attitudes toward their children; favorable attitudes toward

learning new and more effective ways of parenting; positive behavioral experience in

implementing new parenting techniques learned during the workshop; development in the

ability to interact positively with their community and their children’s school;

improvement in the quality of their relationship with their children; increased knowledge

of and ability to implement new parenting techniques; and improved ability to

communicate with their children’s teachers.

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 Therefore, EPIC appears to be playing an important role in improving parental

involvement. Most of the work that EPIC is doing is the improvement of parenting skills,

with two types of parent involvement, type 3:Volunteerism and type 5: Decision Making

and Governance receive less focus (See Table 1). It seems that EPIC mainly focuses on

improving parenting skills and basically works with parents in the belief that parents can

influence children to become responsible and capable adults. There are other things that

EPIC might focus on as well to improve children’s learning if they can obtain the

necessary resources. EPIC could pay more attention on types 3 and 5 of parent

involvement (Epstein, 2001). The challenges of these types are also from school leaders,

not only from the parent’s side. EPIC could also work with school leaders and teachers

through providing them with programs and training for them to learn to work with

parents, welcome parent participation, and share power with parents. To improve type 3,

EPIC could also encourage school leaders and teachers to welcome parents to the

building and classroom, and help or support them with tasks that they can do at schools.

And to promote type 5, EPIC could also focus on working with schools by providing

training to school leaders for them to include parents and community representatives in

school decision making, share power, take parents’ opinions into account, develop parent

leaders and representatives in schools, and establish site-based management teams that

include family representatives. EPIC could also help schools to address the issue of race,

ethnic and socioeconomic status of parent leaders by assisting them to organize an open

discussion or forum and encouraging parents from different races, ethnicity and economic

classes to share their ideas, needs and the issues they feel that schools need to address.

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EPIC might also be able to provide translators during these events to address the

communication issue when parents speak many languages.

In conclusion, the findings highlight the role of education-based NGOs in

assisting schools with regards to parent participation in their children’s education and

school-family partnerships. This study of EPIC provides an example for existing

education-based NGOs and potential NGOs to be receptive to the ideas of how they can

contribute to developing students’ capacity for learning through involving their families

in their education and how they might partner with schools and community members to

implement more family involvement-related programs both in the community and at

schools.

Recommendation for Further Research

The nature of this study is limited. It is based on only the documents found in the

EPIC annual reports and website. From this study, some questions emerged in each type

of parent involvement and other variables (see Table 2) if further investigations, such as

observations or interviews, are conducted to examine EPIC’s contribution to enhancing

parent involvement in their children’s education. Another possibility for future research is

to study the effectiveness of all the programs of EPIC that relate to parental involvement

by conducting the human-subject interviews along with quantitative data analysis to

evaluate the programs of EPIC and address other factors that influence parent

involvement.

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 Because the scope of the study is only the work that EPIC has documented within

Western New York, it is hard to say how effective their program is or the programs are in

other states in which EPIC is located. Thus it is also worth conducting additional research

on all the programs of EPIC in other states that it is located. Also, further research in this

field needs to be done to develop a better understanding of education-based NGOs’ work

on a wider scope--the work of international NGOs in other countries. In particular, this

research could address such questions as: Does their work influence parent involvement

or parent education? What they do to improve parent participation? Do they also work

with schools? This could lead to a comparative case study of international NGOs in

developing countries, such as in the South-east Asia and those regions in the developed

countries of the U.S or Canada, for a better understanding of the work of NGOs in

different contexts in improving parent education.

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 Illustrations
Table 1: Summary of EPIC Programs and Services across the Six Types of Parent
Involvement

Work and Resources of EPIC Type Type Type Type Type Type
1 2 3 4 5 6
Ready, Set, Read
ü
Read, Set, Parent
ü
Parenting Infants & Toddlers
ü
Parenting Young Children
ü ü
Parenting Young Adolescents
ü
Programs and services

Parenting Just for Teens

ü
Parent Leadership Institute
Training
ü ü ü
Creating Home-School
Partnerships and Parent
ü ü
Involvement Training

Parents as Advocates
ü ü ü
Facilitator Training for
Parenting Skills
ü ü
Facilitator Training for
Ready, Set, Read
ü ü
At-Risk Parenting
ü
Parenting Outreach,
Correctional Facilities
ü
Parent Resource Center ü ü ü

Information/Website ü ü ü ü

Based on Epstein’s (2001) six types of parent involvement

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Table 2: Further Questions about EPIC
5 Types of
Parent Questions
Involvement
and Variables
Type 1 -Who are parents that can participate in all kinds of training?
-What do EPIC do to access the information about SES of all parents?
-Do EPIC partner with other organizations that provide similar services to improve
living condition and safety of families?
-What kinds of parents who attend all the parenting workshops?
Type 2 -What role can translators play in improving parental involvement?
-What parent groups selected for the training?
-Do parents attend all the sessions of Parent Leadership Institute workshops, because all
the sessions are interrelated?
-What are the challenges EPIC is facing to improve parent attendance?
-Are the trainers employees of EPIC or they are the experts from other agencies?
-Does EPIC create their own curriculum for each session of the workshops for Parent
Leadership Institute, Parenting Young Children’s, and Creating Home-School
Partnership and Parent Involvement trainings?
-If yes, does EPIC involved teachers and administrators in the curriculum committee?
Type 3 -Does EPIC work with school and help them to improve working with parents?
-What ideas or tips EPIC embraces in Parent Advocates training?
Type 4 - How EPIC can work with the school to get the better understanding and learn about
the school curriculum-related matter and other school standards?
What kinds of resources or reading materials that help improve learning and coaching at
home available in Parent Center at EPIC?
-What strategy EPIC is using to encourage parents and other community members to
come in to use the materials in the Center?
-What are the areas of broadcasting of Parent Media Program that can improve home-
learning?
-Who are involved in designing Ready, Set, Read curriculum (parent manuals and
facilitator manuals)?
-Who can attend Ready, Set, Read training? Do participants need to take a test before
the training?
Type 5 -What parent leadership programs EPIC currently have with schools?
-Do school administrators attend the Parent Leadership Training?
-Does EPIC plan to create a program to work with schools so that it can help or
encourage schools leaders to create parent leadership teams at schools?
Type 6 - Does EPIC have or is able to access information about resources in the community?
-How many/ what organizations EPIC is partnering with?
-Does EPIC work with schools and bring the available resources to schools?
-Does EPIC provide training in other places in the community or only at the EPIC
building?
-Do EPIC plan to provide after-school programs to children in schools EPIC partners
with?
Other -Does EPIC take the issues of race, class, ethnicity and gender into consideration when
Variables working with parents?
-How does EPIC address those issues?

71

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